The D.C. crowd really does live in another world, don't they? Interesting that this article concludes the Dems are having trouble raising money is that they're not business-friendly enough!

The reporter doesn't mention that the netroots community (aka the Democratic ATM) has stopped donating to the DCCC and the DSCC, and instead donate directly to candidates - mostly because we're so disgusted with the Blue Dogs Rahm Emanuel and Co. have recruited.

The party's obliviousness is costing them money at a time they really need it. Worse, it will end up costing us a majority. But why should we give them our money when they're more interested in serving corporations than they are in us?

Democratic political committees have seen a decline in their fundraising fortunes this year, a result of complacency among their rank-and-file donors and a de facto boycott by many of their wealthiest givers, who have been put off by the party's harsh rhetoric about big business.

The trend is a marked reversal from recent history, in which Democrats have erased the GOP's long-standing fundraising advantage. In the first six months of 2009, Democratic campaign committees' receipts have dropped compared with the same period two years earlier.

The vast majority of those declines were accounted for by the absence of large donors who, strategists say, have shut their checkbooks in part because Democrats have heightened their attacks on the conduct of major financial firms and set their sights on rewriting the laws that regulate their behavior.

As the battle over President Obama's effort to overhaul the health-care system reached a fever pitch this summer, the three national Republican committees combined to bring in $1.7 million more than their Democratic counterparts in August. The pair of Democratic committees tasked with raising money for House and Senate candidates -- and doing so at a time when the party holds its strongest position on Capitol Hill in a generation -- have watched their receipts plummet by a combined 20 percent with little more than a year to go before the November 2010 midterm elections.

Gee, Rahm. We didn't have that problem when Howard Dean was DNC chair, did we?

Large-scale defeats in the midterms could be a crippling blow to the ambitious agenda mapped out by Obama's top advisers, particularly if they happen in the Senate, where Democrats caucus with a 60-seat filibuster-proof majority. The party will have to work furiously to defend at least six Senate seats and as many as 40 in the House, including many snatched from Republicans.

"If they take them back, this is the end of the road for what Barack and I are trying to do," Vice President Biden said Monday at a fundraiser for Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.), whose district was held by a Republican for more than two decades before her 2006 victory.

Democrats said a struggling economy is only partly to blame for the poor fundraising performance and acknowledged a more perilous problem: satisfaction among activists that the party now holds the White House, 60 votes in the Senate and 60 percent of the House.

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(John Amato: Wow, this might even top Bobby Jindal for lunacy.

His plan for reinvigorating the economy of his district is known as the Prescription for Prosperity. Rachel Maddow of MSNBC reports he attempted to purchase a "Lordship Title" from British scam artists.)

I think "Doctor" Boustany (as he prefers to be called) is an interesting choice for the GOP rebuttal. After all, not only does he seem to enjoy seeking legal redress for some colorful problems, he's also been the defendant in at least eight malpractice suits. From the DCCC:

Congressman Charles Boustany’s more colorful lawsuits suing con artists who told him he could become a British Lord and suing a construction company for “mental anguish” over a pool resurfacing job shouldn’t overshadow the fact that Boustany has been sued for medical malpractice by eight patients.

Boustany was found at fault by the Louisiana Medical Review Panel twice – including a two-year old child Boustany performed an unnecessary and debilitating heart operation on and a woman whose right leg was amputated as the result of complications from surgery – and patients were awarded damages totaling nearly $2 million.

Since 1992, Boustany has been sued for malpractice by eight separate patients. Boustany was found in fault by the state Medical Review Panel.

• Boustany was sued for medical malpractice for surgery performed on a child and found in fault by the state medical review board. The plaintiff received $600,000 in compensation as a result.

Melanie Malagarie sued Boustany for medical malpractice stemming from surgery performed on her young daughter, Leonette. When Leonette was an infant she underwent heart surgery for a condition called Tetrology of Falot. The surgery was described as being a “good result,” according to court documents. Shortly before Leonette turned three, Boustany recommended surgery described as a “complete repair of Tetrology of Falot.”

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The DCCC sent out an exceptionally well-done clip today pointing to the difference between Obama's vision of Hope and the Republican vision of failure. Please take a look at it. There's no doubt that the Republicans are on a mission to not just obstruct, but to undermine-- everything, from health care reform to the economic recovery and even to the safety of the nation itself. The clip puts forth a strong message, a compelling message. But it just isn't bipartisan enough. After all, it isn't only Republicans who want the single most important piece of Obama's change agenda-- substantive health care reform-- to fail. Plenty of Democrats get the exact same huge handouts from the exact same Medical-Industrial Complex and Big Insurance lobbyists and CEOs. And they will do anything to prevent single payer health care from passing-- or even being brought into the discussion!

I've got the full story up at DownWithTyranny, but John called from the airport and asked me to remind everyone to please consider helping out with the Blue America initiative to save the public option. As John keeps pointing out, health care reform isn't really a Republican vs Democratic issue; it's an issue for the welfare of all American families-- which is why a staggering 83% of Americans want the public option.

Blue America has launched this new campaign to persuade senators who routinely take a great deal of money from Big Insurance to work for their constituents, not for their campaign contributors. We are working with Brave New Films to put together a series of TV commercials that we will start running next month in Arkansas, home of two anti-reform Democrats, Blanche Lincoln and Mark Pryor. Please read more about the plan-- and consider helping us put it into effect-- here at our Blue America page.

I think this letter says it all, as I am a co-sponsor. So...


Stop Fake Reform:

We read that you have chosen to accept President Obama's ban on fundraising from PACs and lobbyists, but only for June 18 -- the day he headlines a fundraiser for you.

This isn’t just hypocritical -- it defies common sense that you'd think the public would believe this was a principled stand against special-interest influence.

For 364 days a year, your rules would allow members of Congress to leave a hearing about regulating Wall Street and then walk straight to the DSCC and DCCC offices to “dial for dollars” from Wall Street lobbyists who want more bailout money and less accountability to taxpayers. Most Americans would find that conflict of interest repulsive.

We call on you to ban PAC and lobbyist contributions 365 days a year, just as President Obama did.


This is actually the least you could do to take on special-interest influence.

Will the DSCC and DCCC reject donations from executives of bailout recipients such as AIG, the way you did for Enron? Will you require candidates you support to publicly endorse the real solution to special-interest influence: public funding of congressional elections?

The public is tired of political gamesmanship. Please recognize that your “one day of reform” is absurd on its face and, if left standing, an embarrassment to your organizations. We urge you to announce a 365-day ban of PAC and lobbyist contributions – at a minimum.

Sincerely,
Your signature.

It's no coincidence that Republicans are going all out to target first term Orlando Democrat Alan Grayson. Grayson's defeat of entrenched rubber stamp incumbent Ric Keller last year was one of Blue America's most important victories ever. Since entering the House in January Rep. Grayson has made a name for himself standing up for working families and flying right in the face of the powerful banksters who have financed the deregulatory mania Grayson aims to fix.

He's fearless and his tough, aggressive questioning of banksters at the House Financial Services Committee, frightens bribe-besotted Republicans and their crooked patrons. He didn't seen intimidated by Republican efforts to recruit a top tier candidate to run against him. Doesn't this sound exactly like Grayson?

"Any Republican in my district who wants to see what it's like to run for Congress and lose is welcome to do so. But whoever it is, the DCCC will leave welts on his back."

More about Grayson and about how much bluer this district has become at DownWithTyranny. And if you'd like to help us get Grayson's back -- here's the place.

   Yesterday's NY Times focused on the differences between McCain's willful inability to send e-mails-- he uses the regular excuse he uses for all his shortcomings, that he was tortured in Hanoi-- with that our one of Blue America's highest priority congressional candidates, Dennis Shulman of New Jersey, who was completely blind by the time he was 15. Dennis is a computer whiz who believes in solving problems, not looking for pity and excuses. But Dennis isn't running against John McCain; he's running against the last hard-core right-wing extremist House member left in the Northeast, Scott Garrett.

On Friday Garrett was in the news because he was the only New Jersey congressman-- from either party-- who voted against funding the Highway Trust. The 28 others were a motley crew of mostly far right Confederates who oppose the very concept of government playing a positive role in citizens' lives-- like in maintaining bridges and highways. Garrett is often at odds with mainstream notions about the role of government and he is often found voting alone with a small handful of radical right kooks from Georgia, Texas and South Carolina.

Even if the DCCC hasn't, the Times pieces will help galvanize moderates and independent voters behind Dennis. Crooks & Liars readers have been on the case since last November.

If you'd like to continue helping this brilliant, no-excuses, blind rabbi from the Jersey suburbs get his message out, our Blue America ActBlue page is open... 24/7.